So I bought 5 small pumpkins thinking they were pie pumpkins. They all looked exactly the same. I roasted them, wanting to freeze the the flesh in portions for future use. After I roasted and cut them open, only one had the tell tale sweet, orange flesh. The other 4 were stringy, yellow, not sweet, not much taste. I had to toss them.I thought I would save money by not buying those expensive canned pumpkins and here I go throwing them all out.

Is there a way to tell a sweet pie pumpkin by looking at it? I'm thinking the 4 I got were maybe immature regular pumpkins. Dang, what a waste.

pumpkin on its own doesn't have much taste; if you've ever tasted canned pumpkin (plain pumpkin, not the pre-mixed pie filling), you know it's just squashy and pretty bland. if you want the squash to be naturally sweet, try kabocha. otherwise, you will need to sweeten the pumpkin yourself.

_________________"rise from the ashes of douchebaggery like a fancy vegan phoenix" - amandabear"I'm pretty sure the moral of this story is: fork pants." - cq

pumpkins are cheap now as they are in season, cans here are much more expensive, none in sight for 99 cents.The 1 pumpkin that had orange flesh was so sweet and taste, it was awesome. The others tasted terrible, so there is a difference.

Small ones, Libby. This was today at lunch time, in a supermarket in Tribeca, and I think I have seen them cheaper in TJ's and that's why I remember it so clearly. I know I thought "Wow...are they that expensive and I just never looked, or are they very expensive here??"

we don't have cans here, and i have made pies from almost every squash. as acr says, Kabocha has the best color and sweetness. maybe next time? honestly i'd have a hard time telling a pie pumpkin from any other old pumpkin.

canned pumpkin is pretty hard to come by & fairly expensive in my part of England, so i've taken to roasting & pureeing fresh pumpkins. you have to be careful though, because most places that sell them here don't specify whether their pumpkins are for carving or cooking. last month i bought one from an organic grower (who, to her credit, tried to steer me toward other squashes) and after roasting i could literally squeeze water out of it. i have managed to get some decent sugar pumpkins, but they seem to be going out of season now. using butternut or kabocha sounds like a good way to go. or even sweet potatoes, if i'm feeling wild.

_________________vegan cheese bigamy is not allowed. - LisaPunk

So today at PPK I learned how to fork up a falafel and a taco. - craiger_ny